Multiplicity

Repetition and multiplication of forms is one of the principals of design and has had multifarious functions for artists in visual arts. Use of repetition in art can be traced back to Islamic art where geometric patterns were used to decorate buildings, objects, textiles and books. As Islam spread to different regions all over the world, Islamic artists began to combine their interest in decorative patterns with Greek philosophy, astronomy and mathematics, resulting in a distinctive art that expressed the logic and order innate in the Islamic vision of the universe. In the West, repetition has been used by artists to achieve rhythm and emphasis, to suggest organic continuity and biological patterns, to invoke experience and memory and to comment on industrial standardization. The use of repetition can be found in the work of Dutch artist, M C Escher(1898-1972), who was primarily a printmaker with an interest in the mathematical relation between forms. He depicted interlocking figures and reflections in various three-dimensional shapes in his tessellations. In the 1950s and 1960s Pop artists used repetition of blatantly commercial objects in a non-painterly style to represent society heavily influenced by mass culture and consumerism. Repetition took on new meanings with Minimalist painters such as Frank Stella(1936), who establishes expectations of continuity and recurrence in his work by suggesting continuity of form beyond the edges of the canvas. Agnes Martin(1912 – 2004) uses the same principle of design in a Minimalist manner to reflect meditative visual experience in unassuming, fragile grid paintings that communicate ideas of the Eastern philosophy of Taoism. 

Over the last few months, Wei-Ling Gallery has worked closely with several artists whose works reflect elements of repetition and multiplicity in their creation. The artists represented in this exhibition have explored various disciplines over the years but are predominantly contemporary printmakers with a keen interest in re-interpreting repetitive images, patterns and forms in their works. Employing techniques which range from traditional silkscreen and line drawings to photography and digitally manipulated prints this exhibition will encourage viewers to re-look a form which traces its origins to the foundation of design and form. Featured artists include Kim Ng, Yim Yen Sum, NurKhalisah Ahmad, Cheong Tuck Wai and Nur G Shah.

‘Multiplicity’ features at Wei-Ling Gallery from 7th July-2nd August 2011.

Lisa Ahmad                                                                                                                                                    Detail of "Movement"

Movement
Wood, perspex, acrylic, screenprint
144cm x 61cm x 137cm, 2011    

Lisa Ahmad                                                                                                                                                     Detail of Untitled showing patterned

Untitled                                                                                                                                                           perspex sheets behind glass pieces
Wood, perspex, acrylic paint, screenprint, fluorescent lights
167.5cm x 244cm x 30.5cm, 2011

Nur Shah                                                                                                                                      Nur Shah

Recalling Memories                                                                                                                  Grazing Memories

Mixed media and acrylic on canvas                                                                                      Mixed media and acrylic on board

88cm x 75cm, 2007                                                                                                                    83cm x 68cm, 2008

Nur Shah

Edinburgh as I remembered

61.5cm x 71.5cm

Mixed media on black paper

Nur Shah

The Art of memory 1-3

79cm x 149cm

Nur Shah                                                                  Nur Shah                                                                   Nur Shah

The art of memory IV                                             The art or memory V                                               The art of memory VI

Mixed media on paper                                          Mixed media on paper                                           Mixed media on paper

80.5cm x 63cm                                                       80.5cm x 63cm                                                         80.5cm x 63cm

Cheong Tuck Wai

City Project No. 137- Coastlines

Cement, perspex, acrylic, oil, sketch with liquid & dry point, photo image, collage on board

33.5cm x 179cm, 2011

Detail of  City Project No. 137- Coastlines

Kim Ng

Title : “Just Round the Corner”
Medium : Acrylic, water-based paint, bitumen, transfer print collage, silkscreen print, pencil, thread and graphite powder with varnish.
Size each panel: 120(H) x 181(W) x 4.5(D) cm

Kim Ng

My Landscape

Collograph print with individual frames

140cm x 140cm, 2007

Yim Yen Sum

183.5cm x 103.5cm (with frame) 2011

Read Article(s)

ASIA artnotes (Art Monthly Australia)

View hanging at the gallery